On
Sudan,
Border & Abyei Issues Fester, AU Says
Accountability Is Not Everything
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24 -- As the UN's
Sudan meeting ended Friday
night, African Union Commission President Jean Ping and top UN
Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy took questions from the Press. The
Communique just issued differed slightly from the near final draft
Inner City Press exclusively put online earlier on Friday. Among the
changes: the phrase “human rights” was cut from the final
paragraph. Inner City Press is putting the final Communique
online here.
Inner
City Press
asked if the border demarcation and Abyei issues including regarding
oil would be resolved before the January 9 referendum date. Le Roy
said “hopefully” they would be resolved. Jean Ping intervened to,
essentially, instruct the Press to not be negative, like predicting
an earthquake.
About
Darfur,
Inner City Press asked what Le Roy was doing to ensure that UN
Peacekeepers can and do leave their bases and protect civilians, as
did not happen in the Tarabat Market earlier this month. Le Roy said
things are getting better, and to the side of the stakeout UNAMID
chief Ibrahim Gambari nodded vigorously.
Inner
City Press
asked why UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had Gambari and his UNMIS
counterpart Haile Menkerios go to the inauguration of Omar al Bashir,
indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and
genocide.
UN's Ban and AU's Ping: accountability is not everything
Le Roy began
the party line -- the Secretary General takes
accountability seriously -- when Jean Ping broke in to chide those
who are only about accountability. Peace is important, he said.
The
AU's position
is clearer than the UN's. Watch this site.
Phrase
in
near final draft of Communique:
The
core
objective of the international community and all stakeholders in
Sudan is the peaceful coexistence of the people of Sudan, enjoyment
of human rights, democracy, economic development, accountability
As
adopted
(without human rights-- Inner
City Press is putting the final Communique online here)
“The
core objective of the international community and all stakeholders in
Sudan is the peaceful coexistence of the people of Sudan, democratic
governance, accountability” etc
* * *
Obama
Does
Not Mention Bashir, Whose VP Taha Praises Obama at UN Sudan
Meet
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24 -- The open portion of the UN Sudan
meeting was
as surprising for what was not said as for what was. US President
Barack Obama in his ten minute speech did not once mention Sudanese
President Omar al Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal
Court for war crimes and genocide.
Sudan's
Vice
President Ali Osman Taha on the other hand, or perhaps in
reciprocation, praised “the next direction and the emergent spirit
of the United States of America of positive and constructive
engagement.”
Inner
City Press
was allowed in the meeting for the first four speakers, and got the
first copy of Taha's prepared speech. That the praise of Obama was in
the prepared text may imply that Taha and his government knew that
Bashir would not be mentioned.
Similarly,
after US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Taha earlier in the week,
Inner City Press asked her spokesman PJ Crowley if Bashir, and
specifically whether he would require a meeting and photo op if the
UN Security Council visits the country as initially planned on
October 4 to 11, Crowley said Bashir “did not come up” in the
meeting.
After
being asked
to leave Friday's Sudan meeting after Ban Ki-moon, Obama, Taha and
Salva Kiir spoke, Inner City Press asked a Security Council
Ambassador if any progress had been made on scheduling the Council
trip to Sudan, which members such as Austria and Mexico want.
No,
the Ambassador
said, maybe after the meeting. Asked by Inner City Press about Obama
not mentioning Bashir, the Ambassador nodded and added, “it will be
interesting to see how many of the African heads of state present
mention Bashir and how.” Yes, it will.
Rwanda's
Paul
Kagame left the meeting after the first four speakers, as did Nick
Clegg of the UK. The EU's Catherine Ashton left while Salvia Kiir was
talking, after having sat near the back of the room typing on a
laptop. It is expected that top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy will take
questions from the Press after the meeting is over and the Communique
is issued.
Obama, UN's Ban and Le Roy on Sept 24, Bashir not
shown, (c) M.R. Lee
Earlier
today --
before the meeting -- Inner City Press published
a near final
draft
of the Communique. A reader has quickly written in:
"This
draft communiqué is the very embodiment of international
helplessness and lack of commitment to the cause of a just peace for
Sudan. In tone it barely rises to the level of mild exhortation. In
substance it is vacuous, or at least entirely redundant, given what
the UNSC and international actors of consequence have said
previously. And some of this is downright pernicious, e.g., the
celebration of the “Government of Sudan’s new strategy for
Darfur.” .. This “New Strategy” has been rejected by the rebel
groups, by the SPLM, and by Darfuri civil society; it has been
endorsed by Gration and Mbeki, and with this document, by the UN. It
is utterly shameless capitulation before a move that promises
explicitly to demote the peace process (Doha or elsewhere), and to
“domesticate” that process…such a “strategy” implemented
will be the peace of the dead.
Paragraph
12:
“In this context, they took note of the Government of Sudan’s
new strategy for Darfur and the important role it could play towards
a comprehensive solution to the conflict in the region.”
More
like
a 'final solution.'"
At
Friday's noon
briefing at the UN, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin
Nesirky to describe the role of the UN Department of Peacekeeping
Operations and Department of Political Affairs in the Communique.
Nesirky, who should answer this question, has yet to. Watch this
site.
* * *
, 
